Google: Requests for User Data Exploded in Last 5 Years

In total, 31,698 requests were made in the first half of 2014, 65 percent of which yielded some data.

Google user data is in high demand: The company's latest transparency report tips a 15 percent increase in global government requests for access in the first half of 2014, though that's a drop in the bucket compared to the 150 percent rise over the last five years.

In its tenth report, released on Monday, the Web giant details the volume of worldwide demands received between January and June for user information in criminal investigations. In total, 31,698 requests were made, 65 percent of which resulted in Google turning over some data.

Since publishing its first transparency report in 2009, the search giant has watched the number of requests multiply every six months amidst a backdrop of ongoing revelations about government surveillance programs.

U.S.-based requests alone grew 19 percent since the second half of last year to 12,539 requests, 84 percent of which were granted. Overall, U.S. requests have grown 250 percent since Google first started publicizing this data.

Those totals, however, do not include Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and National Security Letter (NSL) demands. After much back and forth, the Department of Justice in January announced that tech firms can publish information about the national security-related requests for data they receive separate from other law enforcement data reports. But those numbers must be vague - in bands of 1,000 if FISA requests are separated from other requests, or bands of 250 if lumped in with NSL data. And FISA data is subject to a six-month reporting delay, so Google's transparency report does not have FISA information.

When it comes to NSL data (which Google has been reporting since last year), Google received 0999 NSLs related to 0999 users/accounts between January and June 2014. That's down slightly from the 10001999 users/accounts requested in the previous six months.

Despite the reporting arrangement with federal officials, Google and other tech firms still want permission to publish more granular data about national security-related requests.

"Governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats," Google legal director Richard Salgado wrote in a blog post.

Salgado reiterated Google's support for Sen. Leahy's USA Freedom Act, which would prevent bulk collection of Internet metadata and allow more Google transparency.

"Congress should move to enact this legislation into law," he wrote. Google also wants an update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, something the tech world has demanded for years.

"There is a growing consensus in support of these reforms," Salgado wrote. "In the remaining days of this session, Congress has a chance to pass historic legislation that will help restore trust that has been lost. We urge them to seize upon this opportunity."

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.
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